Saturday, February 14, 2009

Happy Valentine's Day

Come on, Pramodji. Be a sport. I can’t think of a better candidate to send a Valentine to.I love you. So do all the women of India. Sach- much. We find you seriously cute. A real hottie. The thinking woman’s sex symbol.Aapke saamne Farhan Akhtar kuch nahi.You should be flattered. Are you going to arrest me for declaring my feelings in public?No problem. Pyar kiya to darna kya?You are cho chweet. So cute. Today being Valentine’s Day, and you being my Chosen One, I’m going to the nearest pub to drink a pint or two of beer in your honour. Theek hai? I suspect Pramod Muthalik will drown in a pink panties deluge today, and his inbox will overflow with lovey dovey messages sent by the women from across the country. He may even receive pyaar ki jhappies if he ventures out, and who knows, if he runs into Renuka Choudhary somewhere, she may clasp him to her ample bosom and plant a kiss. Isko kehtey hain, Luck by Chance. Pramod, you are one sexy dude – single and ready to mingle.And whether you like it or not, women are going to chase you… invite you for a drink at the nearest pub, maybe get you to shake a leg. Don’t knock it till you’ve tried it. Confess : when was the last time you went on a date? Held hands? Romanced a lady?? Never? Toba. You don’t know what you are missing. I think Nisha Susan is the right person to have as your special date on this very special day. Check out a few bars and pubs with her and see for yourself what exactly goes on there. It may surprise you.‘ The Pink Chaddi’ Campaign kicked off by Susan has snow- balled into something major. It started as a personal protest, a strong reaction to the abominable conduct of Muthalik’s Sri Ram Sene activists. But it rapidly gained momentum as women across the board decided to display their utter contempt for these men by mocking them like never before. What better weapon than women’s underwear to register a lack of respect for men like Muthalik who are fixated on precisely that garment – even if they’ll never admit as much? These are the sickos of our society. Men arrogant enough to believe they are the guardians of our chastity. Go to hell, you guys. Handle your own hang ups, your frustrations, your insecurities and leave us alone to figure out what we want to do with our time and leisure. Those days are gone, when the Gehlots and Muthaliks of the world could dictate the agenda for women. Or issue diktats. Our enlightened Home Minister ( God Bless Chid’s kind heart), has stated in clear and precise language that he considers Muthalik’s SRS a ‘threat’ to the country. By articulating that the SRS has ‘crossed limits’,P. Chidambaram has earned an extra Valentine from me – and thousands like me – women who were waiting for ‘real men’ to put these borderline, iffy fellows into their rightful place – the nearest dustbin.

I am not a pub- goer, nor do I drink beer. That hardly matters. Whether or not I subscribe to the ‘pub culture’ is also irrelevant. Who the hell is Muthalik to sit in judgement over ladies who enjoy such activities? It is entirely their prerogative, their money, their desire, their decision. Mangalore is not Kabul. And unlike Afghanistan, women in India cannot be so easily browbeaten by such bully boys. If these men were sincere about ‘protecting’ women, they would be addressing far more serious issues, like domestic violence, rape, female foeticide. Why waste time harassing a miniscule number of urban women who form a .000-something of our population?Why accost carefree teenagers with bangles and sindhoor and force them to marry?Why not intervene and help underprivileged women in distress over dowry issues?What’s more important – bride- burning or hand- holding? What skewered priorities are these? Ever since ‘The Consortium of Pubgoing, Loose and Forward Women,’ was formed a few days ago, the site caught fire , as men and women signed up to express their solidarity and cock a snook at the SRS. I responded instantly to the email and shared it with several girlfriends across the world. Now I can proudly declare myself a card-holding (or should that be ‘panties-holding’?) member of the association. The response has been overwhelming. It is like a cultural marathon being launched, with the best runners taking the lead against tyranny. Dr. V.S.Acharaya, the Home Minister of Karnataka,has also become the absolute darling of the pink panties donors – he’d better have an explanation ready for his family before the courier chap arrives bearing a bulky carton stuffed with frilly, lacey, risqué lingerie. This unique form of protest has found several takers for an obvious reason. It is a simple, inexpensive yet potent way of making a point. Some may dub it childish and attention-seeking. But in my view, it is the ultimate insult. Men who get their perverse kicks by humiliating women sexually, deserve nothing more ‘serious’ than this gift.Molestors are perverts who obviously do not possess a legitimate avenue to satisfy their sexual needs. The only way they can touch a female, get anywhere close to forbidden fruit, is by attacking her under the guise of guarding her morality. Ha! The NCP in Maharashtra is taking a twisted lead by distributing Valentine’s Day cards in Thane, a Shiv Sena stronghold. Politicising this harmless day, reserved for Cupid and his arrow, is another way to attract youth votes. Since all is fair in love and war, no issues with the strategy. Perhaps Shiv Sainiks themselves have had a change of heart and won’t vandalize gift shops and restaurants celebrating Valentine’s Day. Bharatiya sanskriti faces zero danger from an exchange of dil-shaped greetings and other romantic expressions of love. Think of Krishna and his Gopis. How chilled out were they??Our Great Indian Culture is alive and well. No worries. The real threat to it does not come from mini- skirted women knocking back a couple of beers, nor from young lovers walking hand in hand through malls. It comes from goons who assault defenceless females, demand marriage certificates from amourous couples, and threaten to marry off those found ‘guilty’ of a crime called romance.What shall we call this? How about “Emoshanal Atyachar?”

44 comments:

The tragic incidents of Mumbai carnage and the Mangalore goodaism were not very different from the similar happenings in the past but this time around these incidents have made a difference. Both have brought out the anger of the nation out in the open. While a loud message has been sounded to Pakistan not to train their guns any more on our nation, at the same time a clear warning has also gone to the goons of Muthaliks his tribe to keep their hands off our women folk. Well done crusaders.

A wonderful post!!I subscribe to all the views that you have expressed in this post.It is really shameful that people are ready to politicise something as trivial(if I may say so) and personal as V-day.Wonder where we are heading.

ndtv sued a blogger......actually i thinkit was barkha dutt vs .mr. kunte.any comments on meida freedom of speech?does only television media have the freedom?not bloggers?as a fellow blogger, what do u have to say?

I happened to be at the lobby of a top hotel in chennai both when the pub/disco opened and closed for the night . I was shocked at the attire of the girls and more over at the utter disregard for decency in their conduct .At closure time they emerged from the pub quite drunk and probably high on drugs . The girls with escorts left in cars with their friends ; those without escorts were seen hanging around the porch . It sickened me to see autorickshaw /taxidrivers drag the girls into their vehicles and drive off . They were in no condition to protest and one wonders how they would have reacted had someone tried to protect them! This I am told is a very common occurrence at the hotel . There was a much publicised story of a foreign lady being taken away and raped by a privileged card holding member of the disco. Now , I am no prude nor a sympathiser of the Ram Sene . But this is an issue that needs to be addressed . Young girls are hurting themselves and civil society needs to offer a way out .Talking stridently about rights and choices is not responsible response .

What is the message that Ms.Shoba de wants to convey to the still to mature young minds?? that they can go overboard witht heir sexualities ?Does she think India is prepared for such sexual permissiveness as is prevalent in Western world??Can she for that matter ever stand to see a girl stripping in the pub naked ?does she expect young ladies to go about nude in the beaches or on the public roads as happens in the west?Will any girl walk away with a guy for sex on mere proposal in our country?If the answer is no then India is not a place for V-days.For it is well known that V-day in the garb of love day loosely allows for sexual permissiveness.This kind of ambiguity in culture is leading to a confused psychology in the minds of the young and is a predisposition for violent tendencies like rape ,lust murders etc.The very people who defend the females liberty to go pubs and booze and indulge in promiscuity support the liquor prohibition and oppose legalisation of prostitution.Why this double standards? Finally these women who plan to send pink panties to Ram sene ,can they ever dare to stirp their panties and bra in the public like their western counterparts?The fact is V- day is celebrated in the west as a day of promicuity.True love knows no day or time & in India 90% of girls are not prepared for promicuous occasions like V-Day.Proponents ,like Shoba de only indulge in "ink diarroea" because they have to jot out something to be in the limelight.

I totally agree with you.....Your editorial published in the newspapers must have blown off Mutthu's Socks!!!! I think the Pink Chaddi campaign has changed Muthu's mind..... Muthu has said to the media that he wont interfere with V Day Celebrations....

Marrying off couples forcibly.. that is the limit. Even brothers and sisters are assualted and labelled as couples!! So Sick!!!!

But other "moral police officers" of VHP and the likes are on the prowl...

The V-day plans of the Shri Ram Sene have been dropped...More on account of orders from the ‘high command’ (read top BJP leadership) than anything else, I suspect...

My bet is that after the violence against Christians was overtaken in public memory by the Mumbai terrorist attacks, which the Sangh Parivar and its political face i.e. the BJP failed to draw much political mileage from despite strong attempts (as evident from election results for the Delhi and Rajasthan state legislatures), the Parivar turned to ‘protecting’ Hindu youngsters against forming relationships with non-Hindus as well as against ‘Western culture, in view of the coming general elections.

The ‘vote-bank’ being aimed at is obviously comprised of those who vote to reward the BJP and other constituents of the Sangh Parivar with election victories, whenever they organise violence against minorities.

Whether the current endeavour turns out to be just as profitable remains to be seen.

BTW, the under-wear campaign appears to have little sympathy for the girls 'punished' for interacting with non-Hindu young men.

nice post .... i laughed my heart out when i heard about the pink chaddi campaign from my friends ..... well written. If anyone is interested, they can visit www.behindmywords.blogspot.com to check out another cool V day post

Dear Shobhaji,It would be great if you write a blog on Baba Ramdev's campaign against corrupt and criminal politicians. People need to be aware about his campaign and I think you could be the best medium as you are true patriot.

Your article says it all!! Thank you.I've been wanting to scream my lungs out & express my utter disgust towards these so called "Saviors of the Indian Culture". Shame on them! More importantly, shame on those mothers, who have taken pride in nurturing these hooligans. Certainly, change is always an uncomfortable truth. But then, change is a also a constant.Tradition calls for the bride to adopt a new home & a new family. Indian women have always succeeded in adjusting their life to changes such as this. Hats off to their courage. On the other hand, our beloved Indian men have been fed, nurtured, pampered & in a nutshell, been thoroughly prepared to lead a life of certainty that will not allow any kind of surprise. Obviously, they have not been able to cope with the changing times. It certainly calls for a revision of our mindset & a revision of our priorities, because globalization also means that what would have been a priority 10 years ago doesn't necessarily have to be important even today. However, this comment is only for those insensitive souls. I still believe that beautiful hearts & minds do exist.

Wow! that's great. Hope that all Indian women take a cue from you and beat the hell out of these shameless shit bags, who are real cowards and only go after the weak and mild, who they know for sure would never hit back. They only carry out these bashings when they are in numbers, and the opposition a handful. The women, including their partners should carry those sprays and be the first to attack those Bs, rather than be beaten up and tortured. Trust me, show them muscle and these stone age cowards will run for their lives. They would never mess with real characters who are ruining the Country in so many other ways.These are internal terrorists.Like Nandani I too have voiced my opinion about these goons up bringing. They were probably brought up seeing their Mothers being bashed up, and so do not think twice before hurting other woman. Their parents should be ashamed of spewing these shit bags into this world. On the contrary there are some who have a pooja ceremony, as if their ward has come back from the front after winning a battle.They should be sent on the border to see if they are men enough to face the real enemy. I am pissed because they are taking the law into their hands, while the misfits who are supposed to uphold the law stand as mere spectators.Come on India. We are a great Country, not the Taliban, though they (the Taliban) are too close for comfort, as indicated by our neighbours. Who knows they will have a very good partnership with these samples over here.Good on you.

Shobhaa De,Do you know how ridiculuous all this sounds coming from YOU, a self-confessed Raj Thackeray supporter?People idolising this hypocritical woman should watch the Devil's Advocate interview (http://ibnlive.in.com/news/devils-advocate-shobhaa-de-on-mumbai-vs-bombay/76806-3.html)

De, you are a darling and a true one at that. This is such a powerful post. More power to you and all women who've ever been traumatized by Muthu's of our society.

On a different note, who are these Lathas and anonymous people plaguing this space with their constant reference to your Karan Thapar interview on IBN? Its high time such crop of people see the difference between a. thoughtful criticism and superficial fault-finding and between b.commenting and referencing.

On yet another note, isn't it nice, Nepal celebrated not just red, but also "pink" Valentine's day? More power to gays too.

shobhaa de ji..!!i have a small doubt..!!one of my friend here always says that he is a close associate of ur's...his name is Arun a.k.a Lensa who is from hyderabad A.P.He also says that he wrote the books nomenclature and phenomenon...and it seems that u read those books also..!!!is that true...??plss plss reply to this comment..!!waiting to hear from u..!!plss reply to rdivya123@yahoo.com

Shobhaa, I cant for the life of me,imagine why you would allow such morons to publish incoherent remarks on your post. To quote and also reply to one: "Can she for that matter ever stand to see a girl stripping in the pub naked ?does she expect young ladies to go about nude in the beaches or on the public roads as happens in the west?Will any girl walk away with a guy for sex on mere proposal in our country?If the answer is no then India is not a place for V-days.For it is well known that V-day in the garb of love day loosely allows for sexual permissiveness."

Ooh...Mr.Wimp(err..Mr.Pink), do you think stripping and nudity is all that`s there to Valentine`s day or even love for that matter??Well known to whom, Dear Wimpie?? To retarded morons like you, who just dont get it??? And if that be so, pray, would you mind explaining how your pervert mind doesnt ostracize men but ONLY WOMEN who go to pubs? Pray,do inform us about the culture which preaches that its OK for men to go to pubs and rape and harrass women, but NOT OK for women to retaliate???Wimpie dear...instead of jumping to type your next nasty comment directed at me, go think. But then again, if that brain of yours is as wimpy as you, which I strongly suspect it is, I dont think 'go think' is a great idea. Just go. Let us live in peace.

This is not clash of cultures..but clash of rich vs ordinary. This is not going to end here. Majority even if they don't accept in public are in support of these incidents of 'moral policing'.If you had observed clearly you wouldn't find even a single person who is rich enough to go to pub and still protest against it. So its clearly clash of classes.The pub attack was one off incident but in India there is so much of domestic violence against women that happens on day to day basis...why dont they raise their voice against that?do these people who religiously celebrate valentines day know that there is something called Domestic violence awareness month too?There are still dowry-deaths that happen so regularly..why don't u young pub going girls protest against it in the same fashion as u r doing now?Media giving you space because u speak posh english and have a photogenic face.And what did you people do? gave publicity to a guy like muthalik..u gave him so much publicity that he might even win in the next elections if he contests.

S, I wouldn't behave in too friendly a manner with PM in public lest you run into BRDal guys & they force you two poor souls into a marriage!nice post.According to the press the goons enjoyed receiving the pink chaddis, but don't know if the preference went to strings..hmmm , by the way, i prefer normal vintage Moet; don't care for rosé normally

Dé, my female frnds hv been receiving nice phone calls fm mutti boi's men. They use words like mother f;&%ker, ar&ehole, etc. And guess what, the cutest thng is that all are in chasté hindi. A comment tht r anonymous in ths blog speaks about indian culture getting harmed. Do we mean to say that indians are apes who would blindly follow what they see. If people are naked in pubs (whch they arnt) would our girls get inspired to go nude? Are we that fickle minded?... My india is a thnking india. Not a blindly aping india. I believe indian culture is in 'athithi devo bhava', and our culture could be influenced by the athithi, but cant shake our roots.

Apropos your thought provoking article captioned To Promdji with love, from pink chaddi girls in the Deccan Chronicle dated 14 Feb 2009. I am 69 turning 70. My generation has seen the transition from ghunghat culture to more open society for women. The women have also been exposed to equal educational opportunities and today we find them working shoulder to shoulder with men including armed forces, police and Government and are not merely confined to teaching profession. However, I feel this has been mainly an urban phenomenon. A large chunk of our women folk in diverse places and amongst various social groups in our country are still subject to primitive restrictions. They live in thrall, in penury and utter drudgery. At the same time taking to pub culture in the name of women emancipation is no solution. If anything, it arouses abhorrence. Recently, I came across a newspaper ( Deccan Chronicle) photograph showing some young girls sitting on bar stools in a pub drinking and one of them smoking a hookah. I confess I was horrified to see it and felt it was sheer perversion, the forerunner of a decadent culture being ushered in the name woman lib. I am not a reactionary and my own daughters- in- law are free to wear jeans should they so choose but the basic ethos of our culture are maintained. If we choose to ape the western culture we should also be prepared to accept all its ills. The choice is ours.Article 14 of our Constitution prescribes freedom as fundamental right but with reasonable restrictions. However, these restrictions should not be imposed on the pub culture either by the government or by the goons of frustrated libidos posing as protectors of our culture. Such hooliganism is just not acceptable in a liberal democracy like ours. Nor is the pub bharo movement as advocated by our honourable minister’s daughter a solution. If anything, it is a perverse reaction. After all what do we want? Do want our boys and girls to be drunken debauchees and hussies? It will be too optimistic to presume that the grown up boys and girls drinking and smoking together will exercise restraint in the charged atmosphere of the pub. Are we not exposing them to cancer? Why this hara-kiri instinct? I think that the solution lies in proper counseling in the educational institutions and by the parents of these spoilt brats if the novae riche can find time for their offspring or else these youngsters are so pampered that they have stopped listening to any one – parents and teachers alike.

I am a resident of Trivandrum. Just wanted to write about the Mangalore incidents...You created such hue of a small incident in Mangalore and brouhgt it to the limelight! There was a similar incident of the same sort where the DYFI workers thrashed a guy and a gal in broad daylight some time back in Thiruvanathapuram..Just wanted to know how and why you press persons report selectively

I was boiling all over seeing the unbelievable atrocities in the media...so much so that I could nt get the right words to xpress my feelings.But ur post does it ma'am,its the most powerful post I ve read on this issue.

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